The parties involved – KiwiRail, Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), Manukau City Council, Auckland International Airport Ltd and ARC – have now agreed to undertake a project to investigate multi-modal transport routes to provide connections to the airport, how the requirements of each party can be met within the corridor and to prepare the documentation required to protect the route. This project is to be known as the South-Western Airport Multi-Modal Corridor Study. The South Western Rapid Transport Corridor Study undertaken by Beca for ARTA in 2008 recommended that the preferred rapid transit connection to the airport was a rail loop connecting to the rail system at Onehunga in the north and at Wiri in the east.

The Regional Land Transport Strategy 2010 – 2040 (RLTS) includes the airport rail loop as part of the Rapid Transit network and identifies the need to finalise planning for the route and to put in place measures to protect the route. The RLTS also identifies the need for a staging plan which considers how public transport to the airport should be progressively improved as it develops towards rapid transit levels of service.

The Study will be funded jointly by ARTA and NZTA.

The Study is intended to determine future arrangements for the following:

• Connections with surrounding highway network
• Rapid transit connections including station locations to the Airport and the Auckland Airport passenger terminals.
• A progression plan for public transport infrastructure and service provision over the next 30 years.
• Long term corridor cycle and walking routes and linkages.
• Identifying current and potential future integrated transport / land use opportunities along the multimodal connections to Auckland Airport.

The indicative programme for the project is:

• October 2010 Tender contract for Study
• Dec 2010/Feb 2011 Evaluate Tender
• February/March 2011 Award Contract for Professional services
• March 2011 Political Reference Group meeting
• Contract timeframe 2011 to 2012

Minutes of the meeting and the Draft MoU can be found here (pdf) >>>

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